peace...

happy christmas eve!!  tomorrow is the big day.  are you ready??  i finally got the last of my cards sent off (so if i missed you, consider this an e-greeting from me!)

wishing you all a peaceful holiday season.

 peace
stamps:  unity
cardstock:  white, midnight muse
ink: midnight muse, baja breeze
tools:  corner chomper
other:  acrylic paint, sharpie paint marker, hexagon embossing folder

merry.christmas.joy.

 merry.christmas.joy.
stamps:  stampin up
cardstock:  crumb cake, white, my mind's eye pp
ink: cherry cobbler
embellishments:  washi tape
tools:  envelope punch board

be merry...

blink and you'll miss it. that's how i've felt about this whole year! but especially the last month.  here's another christmas card from my stash.

 be merry
stamps:  susan weckesser, unity
cardstock:  rich razzleberry, white, stampin up pp
ink: rich razzleberry, onyx black
tools:  circle punch

i completely forgot it was friday, so i might as well link this up to unity's friends with flair!!  haven't played along in a while.  so go see what other unity friends have made.

merry & happy...

it's getting closer to sending out chritsmas cards!!  i still have a few i need to get done.

 merry & happy
stamps:  unity, maryse carrier
cardstock:  crumb cake, white, stampin up pp
ink: cherry cobbler, onyx black
embellishments: washi tape
tools:  swiss dots embossing folder, nestabilities

just a note...

sometimes you want to send just a note.  love this little notepaper stamp and flowers!

 just a note
stamps:  unity, jillibean soup
cardstock:  crumb cake, pistachio, white
ink: midnight muse, gumball green, pacific point
tools:  hexagon embossing folder, envelope punch board

jingle...

time to start thinking of christmas.  and christmas cards.  good times!

 jingle
stamps:  unity
cardstock:  carina gardner, my mind's eye
ink: cherry cobbler
embellishments:  washi tape, tiny attatcher, date stamp
tools:  circle punch, envelope board

celebrate...

my cute mom's birthday was a few days ago.  here is the card i made for her.  and i can't believe it's been weeks since i posted!!  what a blog slacker i've been!!  i have plenty to make up for it though.  lots of projects to share coming soon.

 celebrate
stamps:  unity
cardstock: white, melon mambo
ink: melon mambo
tools:  chevron border punch

joy.peace....

trying to get in the holiday spirit so i don't procrastinate until december!!

joy.peace.
stamps: unity
ink: cherry cobbler, pistachio pudding, broken china
embellishments:  tag, twine, paper bag, buttons, washi tape

choose joy...

sometimes you need a little reminder.  it's simple, really. get rid of the crud and just choose joy!

choose joy
stamps:  stephanie ackerman-unity
cardstock: crumb cake, cherry cobbler, echo park pp, crystal wilkerson pp
ink: early espresso, walnut stain
tools:  prismacolor markers, corner chomper

having fun...

happy world card making day!!

having fun
stamps:  elzybells, unity
cardstock: pool party, white, amuse pp
ink: broken china, midnight muse, bubble gum
tools:  silhouette

one moment...

happy friday!! can't say how glad i am this week is almost over. the old saying, "some days are better than others" definitely carries over to weeks!  i am not very good at sympathy cards (mostly because i hate that there is a reason to have to give a sympathy card) but i needed one for some amazing people.  i "borrowed" the idea for the design from a card on the unity website.  i loved the card i saw and thought it would be good with this sentiment.

so play along with the friends at unity and friends with flair.  it's always a good way to get inspired!

one moment
stamps:  donna downey (unity)
cardstock: crumb cake, walnut cream
ink: cherry cobbler, early espresso, lucky limeade

and while you are there, you might as well shop, since angela and co. is having a HUGE sale this weekend to get you ready for the holidays!!

what's up?

this is a totally quick and simple card.  and i mean easy.  three steps.
fold cardstock.
add washi tape.
stamp word bubble.
done. gotta love that!!

what's up?
stamps:  amuse
cardstock: winter sky
ink: ripe persimmon
embellishments:  washi tape

our house...

our house, in the middle of the street.  just kidding...do you have that song stuck in your head?  i spent a little time doing a mixed media page in my art journal the other day.  inspiration came from monday's mixed media monday broadcast with tracy weinzapfel.  she created a page with  what she let's in her home.  i loved the idea, so here is our house.

our house
ink: midnight muse
other:  gesso, acrylic paint, decopage, bubble wrap, dictionary paper, charcoal pencil
stencils:  heidi swapp, crafter's workshop

taking the plunge...

i needed a special "congratulations on your wedding" card for one of my friends.  she and her significant other got married after being together for many years!  so it had to be something beyond the plain wedding card.  i thought this was awesome!  as soon as i saw the stamp, i knew i was using it to make a card for her! congratulations, cindi and gary!

and check out this week's friends with flair on the unity blog.  good times!

taking the plunge
stamps:  unity
cardstock: blackberry, pink pirouette, white, stampin up pp
ink: elegant eggplant
embellishments:  prismaacolor markers

happy...

i hate being stumped by a swap.  i love atcs.  they are small 3 1/2" by 2 1/2" size little creative works.  suzi is hosting a few swaps and this set is for the one with a polka dot theme.  and this one stumped me. big time.  i could not figure out what to do.  so over the course of a few days, this is what came out.  i  am happy with the final result. especially the buttons.  love buttons!! i'm a little bit of a button hoarder.  but don't judge!!  i'm also loving the new in colors from stampin up.  at first i was like "blah" but now i like them.

and it's friday, so i'll play along with friends with flair and the unity peeps again.  who doesn't want the shot at some free unity goodies???  go play along.

happy.
stamps:  unity
cardstock: strawberry slush, pistachio pudding, white
ink: strawberry slush, pistachio pudding, crisp cantelope
embellishments:  buttons

hey there friend...

hello!!  here's a card i made from a kit, only of course i had to mix it up a bit.  it's the first bit of crafting i did after my knee drama.  got me back on track with crafting.  i chose something easy that i knew wouldn't take long.  but i love the cards.  they came from the stampin up paper pumpkin kit.

hey there friend
stamps:  stampin up
cardstock: basic gray
ink: basic gray
other:  cardstock stickers

friends for life...

i've been crafting more this week and it feels awesome!!  made a couple of cards for some people, have many more thank yous to make!!  it's been a while since i've played along with friends with flair and the unity peeps, so i decided to this week! go check out the rest of the fwf goodies on the unity blog!

have a good weekend!

friends for life
stamps:  unity
cardstock: white, tangerine tango, stampin up pp
ink: tangerine tango, daffodil delight, onyx black
other:  prismacolor markers

seeing good...

it's time to play catch up on my blog!!  about a  month ago, my cute friend sherri's husband had to have unexpected eye surgery.  so i made him this card.  i love the glasses and i just adjusted the saying to fit the card!!

seeing good
stamps:  unity
cardstock: white, crumb cake, authentique pp
ink: walnut stain, early espresso

fly again...

wow. it's august 8th. july was one of the worst months i've ever experienced.  it started out with  one surgery, two weeks later turned into an emergent surgery due to an infection followed by two weeks of terribleness. but it's all behind me now thanks to the amazing help of my family.  i don't know what i would have done without them.

and the creative dare  from tracy for the month of august could not have been more therapeutic for me.  the dare is to "let it go."  which is what i've done.  the past is done, and i'm moving forward!  the challenge was to use a favorite quote, make our creation in less than an hour and a half, and just "let it go" while we created.  i saw this quote from the brave girls club a week ago and it rang so true. there were days i wasn't so sure i would fly again.  but i am.  i branched out and used watercolors for this page, which was new and different.  brought me back to my grade school days.

thanks for another awesome creative dare, tracy!!

fly again
stamps: unity
ink: jet black, island indigo, basic gray, paris dusk
embellishments:  tissue paper
other:  watercolors, montana ink pen, mod podge, pitt pen

flutter...

hello, bloggerland.  it's been a while.  had knee surgery last week and trying to recoup from that.  but even though i haven't been able to craft yet, i realized i have projects i need to blog about!  so here is a set of atcs for a mixed media swap.   i used some awesome tissue paper that came in an order from the brave girls club.  that melody ross is amazing!!  now more than ever i need to remember to be a brave girl!

the process for the atcs was this:  first i gessoed the background; then mod podged the tissue paper; third added some layers of stamps (it's no secret for my love of unity stamps); then i sealed the deal with mod podge acrylic sealer--my new fave!  thanks for taking a peek!!

live, love
stamps:  unity
cardstock: kraft
ink: ripe persimmon, shabby shutters, seedless preserves, tumbled glass
other:  tissue paper, acrylic paint, mod podge

live, love...

friday, friday, friday. oh happy day. this weekend is supposed to be the hottest days of the year so far. all triple digit days expected. let's hope the old ac keeps up!! here's a set of atcs i wanted to share for friends with flair. check out the other lovelies over on the unity blog.  i got a new heidi swapp stencil i was dying to try. i used it on the background. simply inked it with some distress ink. love the effect.

live, love
stamps:  unity
cardstock: soft sky, crumb cake
ink: peacock feathers, riper persimmon, black soot
tools:  stencil

idea...

been in the atc making mode lately.  i love these little canvases.  makes you think big, but small!  i saw this quote on pinterest and loved it.  this is a mixed media swap so  i used all sorts of things...acrylic paint, gesso, stencils, washi tape, label maker.

idea
embelishments:  washi tape, label maker
other:  acrylic paint,  gesso, decopage, stencil
font:  fzm old typewriter

beautiful girl...

i can't believe it.  it's june 8 and i am way ahead of the june creative dare deadline.  usually i'm finishing the night before!  i skipped may entirely.  so i'm pretty happy to be done with june.  if you aren't familiar with the creative dare, here's a little info.  tracy weinzapfel does a live show each monday, mixed media monday.  if you haven't joined on a monday night, you should.  it's a riot.  and she makes awesome projects.  each month, she puts out a creative dare.  it gets you thinking way outside the box (and your comfort zone sometimes!).  it's very good for me. here is a link to the creative dare for june.  we had to incorporate powerful truths, or things that you just sort of need to remember all the time.

i chose one of the daily truth emails from brave girls club.  i used the email as the background, then selected a few thoughts that i need to remember. i even went straight to canvas with this so i can hang it up in my room and see it all the time.

beautiful girl
stamps: donna downey
ink: jet black, island indigo
other:  acrylic paint,  gesso, india ink, decopage
font:  fzm old typewriter

here is a link to the original post from the brave girls daily truth email. the background says:

Dear Beautiful Girl,

You have plenty of time to figure it out. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Remember that most of us are alive for nearly 100 years, and in those 100 years we will have lots and lots of opportunities to get things right. It is never too late, and you can start over again every single day, for the rest of your life if that's what it takes.In the years of our life, we can count on the fact that we will continuously fall on our faces, make mistakes and take the wrong paths sometimes. We just will . . . all of us. It's part of the deal.

You are absolutely spectacular, no matter what your mistakes have been, no matter how many times you have had to start over, and no matter how many lessons it takes for you to learn valuable things. You are just an awesome student of life. You are the fun one! You are the one the teacher makes the lessons for in the first place!

So sweet friend, cut yourself some slack. Do better tomorrow. Count the victories you HAVE had. Look how far you have come, and especially, look deep into that pure and beautiful heart of yours and see that THAT is who you are. You are not your mistakes or your wrong turns or the weaknesses that you are STILL working on overcoming. That is your human part. You are the BIG BEAUTIFUL spirit part, the one who keeps trying, every day.

So keep it up. Kiss yourself in the mirror and tell your cute self that you are doing just fine.

So much love. . .
xoxo

hip hip hooray...

seriously, it's been a week since my last post? time flies so fast when you have a vacation! we skipped town and went to vegas for a few days. it was pure bliss hanging by the pool each day.  here is another birthday card i'm sharing for friends with flair.  i used the silhouette to cut out the balloons.  love that machine.  the stamps used are stars of worn and one of the stamp of the week stamps, hooray it's your birthday.  be sure and see the rest of the fwf participants (clickie, clickie) for a chance to win some free stamps from unity!!

birthday
stamps:  unity
cardstock: white, pool party
ink: tumbled glass, onyx black
tools:  silhouette

birthday...

i'm so happy it's friday.  and the weekend.  woot woot!  i thought i'd play along with friends with flair today. i love this numbers stamp.  it's so cool.  go see the rest of the fwf players this week on the unity blog.

birthday
stamps:  unity
cardstock: white, blackberry, mermaid
ink: peacock feathers, blackberry

edit:  i've had a few comments asking about the stamp.  here is the link to the stamp.  it is one huge stamp!

mistakes...

let's face it...mistakes happen.  but sometimes there are good mistakes.  i love this stamp by donna downey.  this page in my canvas journal is like texture-palooza!!  i used a ton of things to make texture.  and i love how it turned out.  it is also the last page in this journal, so now it is complete!!  thanks to tracy weinzapfel for the inspiration and idea of this book!  i went a little off the path for the last two pages, but i am so happy with the journal.

mistakes
stamps: donna downey
ink: jet black, peacock feathers, india ink
embellishments:  tag
other:  acrylic paint, gelatos, gesso, bubble wrap, masking tape, drywall tape, modeling paste, crafter's workshop stencil

beautiful...

i haven't spent any time playing with mixed media for a while.  over a month, in fact.  and it's made me sad.  but i knew i had a few projects to finish so last night after work, i made time to play.  and it was so good for my soul.

this project started out as entry for tracy's march creative dare.  i created it on my crafty trip in april, but didn't have the right sentiment with me to use.  so when i got home, it kind of got forgotten.  last night i was sorting through some stamps and the "beautiful" spoke to me.  so here is how it ended up.  we were supposed to use buttons and lyrics to our favorite song.  well, i got it half right.  i couldn't figure out what lyrics would fit, so i just added the words "be yourself."

beautiful
stamps: donna downey
ink: jet black
embellishments:  buttons
other:  acrylic paint, , gelatos, gesso, bubble wrap, charcoal pencil

winners...

thanks to all who visited my blog last week for growing in unity.  the winner of the two itty bitties is....

 Natasha G.P. said...

Your shading looks great. I don't even remember this stamp. I love it. Good job.

5/8/13, 2:42 PM

the bonus winners for a prize from me are:

Sunshine HoneyBee said...

Bingo background goes wonderfully with the sentiment.
Melissa
"Sunshine HoneyBee"

5/10/13, 2:21 PM 

and

Cindi said...

Love this!! so cute
:)

5/7/13, 8:28 AM 

yay! would the winners please email your info.

giu day five...

well, it's my last day as the growing in unity girl.  it's been a fun week posting projects each day that show off the awesomeness that is unity stamps.  (not that they need help...they are amazing on their own!)  i hope you had fun checking back each day.  here's my last card for the week.  i used stamps from the may '12 smak and the stamp lucky friend.

lucky
stamps:  unity
cardstock: wild wasabi, crumb cake
ink: lucky limeade, peeled paint, soft suede
embellishments: washi tape, masking tape
tools:  crafter's workshop bingo template

it's also friends with flair friday!!  don't forget to visit the unity blog and see the fun projects there.

and don't forget to comment (you can even go back to the other posts from the week). maybe you will be  the lucky one who is picked from the comments to get two ittie bitties of your choice.  i'll leave comments open through monday!  i'm going to pick a few peeps and throw in a bonus prize, too!!

thanks for sharing my week as giu girl!

giu day 4...

i can't believe it's day four already of growing in unity!  time flies!  i went on my crafty trip a few weeks ago (the one i mentioned yesterday) and actually had a productive time.  this was one of the easiest cards i made, but it is by far one of my favorites.  all it took was a little ink, a stamp or two, some cardstock and a paper bag.  i used stamps from the july '12 kotm again.  great kit!

old bag
stamps:  unity
cardstock: crumb cake
ink: crumb cake, soft suede
embellishments: paper bag

i'm like a broken record by now, but  unity is giving away 2 itty bitties of your choice to one of the lucky peeps that leaves a comment on my blog this week. they are still awesome like that. so check back each day for something new!  thanks for visiting!

giu day 3...

day 3 for growing in unity.  thanks for visiting.  i've mentioned a few times that once a year, a group of my stamping crafty friends gather for an extended weekend and have a craft-fest.  we have gone to the same place for either five or six years, now.  (i've lost track!)  so i made this card in honor of them.  i used the life is a journey set.  it is perfect for this!  it would also be great for an anniversary card (hint hint, sherri!).

it happened here
stamps:  unity
cardstock: crumb cake, white, lemon chiffon
ink: tumbled glass, salty ocean, peacock feathers, walnut stain, onyx black, versamark
embellishments: clear embossing powder

remember, unity is giving away 2 itty bitties of your choice to one of the lucky peeps that leaves a comment on my blog this week. they are awesome like that. so check back each day for something new!

giu day 2...

hello and welcome if you are coming to check out growing in unity day two!  today i'm sharing a project i made for an atc swap.  the theme was pink and black. i used one of my favorite unity stamps, (that i don't use enough...) hearts of old, for the background.  then added a little hello.  i made the banner using a tiny little  pennant punch and some baker's twine.

hello
stamps:  unity
cardstock: pink pirouette, basic black
ink: pink grapefruit, onyx black
embellishments: baker's twine, pennant punch

don't forget unity is giving away 2 itty bitties of your choice to one of the lucky peeps that leaves a comment on my blog this week. they are awesome like that. so check back each day for something new!  thanks for visiting!

growing in unity day 1...

hello and welcome to my week as the growing in unity girl! it's not a secret that i have a tiny little obsession with all things unity. who doesn't?   i figured i'd start off the week with a card to get you shaking and shimmying.  i made it for a friend of mine, the amazing tracy weinzapfel, who celebrated a birthday on may 4th. but if you ask her, her birthday is may 1st through 31st!!!  so get out your dancing shoes and party with her!

dancin' shoes
stamps:  unity
cardstock: echo park pp, white, blackberry, mermaid
ink: burnt umber, peacock feathers, onyx black
other: bubble wrap

i used stamps from the july '12 kit of the month, may '12 kotm, and my favorite bubble wrap for the background.

don't forget that unity is giving away 2 itty bitties of your choice to one of the lucky peeps that leaves a comment on my blog this week. they are awesome like that. so check back each day for something new!

and don't forget today is the last day for the AMAZING 50% off sale!  go check it out!!

hang out...

funny story about this set of atcs. i made it on my crafty getaway a few weeks ago. i wanted to use this cute owl/tree die from amuse. but i didn't want to cut them all out...so my cute friend sherri did it for me! so i have to say this was a joint effort. thanks, sis!!

hang out
stamps:  unity
cardstock: bermuda chevron, cool carribean, soft suede, crumb cake, white, papaya
ink: spiced marmalade, walnut stain, salty ocean
tools: owl die